How $50 billion can be found in fishing -- if the world does it better

By Ivana Kottasova, CNN

Updated 1102 GMT (1902 HKT) July 11, 2014

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Photos:Global fishing in numbers

Global fishing in numbers – Fisheries contribute more than $270 billion to global GDP, employing hundreds of millions of people around the world. Pictured here is a Sorong fish port located in Indonesia's Papua region, where the combination of climate change, overfishing and pollution is destroying ecosystems.

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Photos:Global fishing in numbers

Global fishing in numbers – About 1 billion people, mainly in developing countries, rely on fish as their primary animal protein source. This photo shows workers at a wholesale market in Tanjung Karang, a fishing village in Malaysia.

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Photos:Global fishing in numbers

Global fishing in numbers – An estimated 250 million people in developing countries directly depend on small-scale fisheries for food and income. In this photograph fish are sold at market in Banda Aceh.

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Photos:Global fishing in numbers

Global fishing in numbers – Oceans around the globe could provide the world with extra $50 billion each year -- if people learned how to manage fisheries in more sustainable way. Pictured here is fisherman Klaus Raack, who started fishing in the Baltic sea when he was 15 and is now 60.

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Photos:Global fishing in numbers

Global fishing in numbers – Unsustainable fisheries threaten to destroy the oceans ecosystems. Penguins have existed on our planet for more than 50 million years but current environmental issues such as climate change and overfishing threaten their survival.

Story highlights

A new report backed by Prince Charles says fisheries could bring $50 billion

The aim is to bring in businesses and transform the way the conservation efforts are funded

Prince Charles: "Economy and ecology do not have to be locked into an irreconcilable struggle"

Oceans around the globe could inject an extra $50 billion into the world's economy -- if fisheries were sustainably managed, a new report backed by Prince Charles shows.

Prince Charles, a keen environmentalist, hosted a meeting in London Thursday bringing together representatives of the fishing industry, governments, campaigning groups and investors. The aim was to transform the way the conservation efforts are funded -- from philanthropic and public sources of money, to business investment.

"Success would provide a much-needed example of how to regenerate our planet's dangerously depleted, threadbare and under-performing natural capital while also providing a realistic economic return," Prince Charles said.

Fisheries contribute more than $270 billion to global GDP and employ hundreds of millions of people around the world, according to the report from the Prince of Wales charity. An additional $160 billion comes from related businesses, such as ship building or fish processing industries.

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But environmentalists argue the world's oceans are being exploited, and that will eventually cost the industry billions. The report points to the Canadian Grand Banks cod fisheries, where unsustainable fishing led to its collapse, as an example of the impact.

The report argues global demand for fish and seafood have pushed prices up since early 2000s -- but stocks have remained constrained. It says sustainable fishing would ensure a bigger and healthier fish stock, producing yields in the longer term.

"Oceans are the single most important resource in human history," Fred Krupp, the President of Environmental Defence Fund said. "We can transform our oceans into a sustainable, enduring resource -- one that provides more fish in the sea, more food on the plate, and more economic prosperity," he said.

The Global Ocean Commission has also sounded warnings about the high seas, saying in June that there was a risk of exploitation in oceans outside national jurisdictions.

"There are 'too many boats trying to catch too few fish' yet, despite this clear overcapacity, governments still grant at least US$30 billion a year in fisheries subsidies," the commission said.

The commission said the majority of sustainable fishing in these waters is done by only 10 countries -- most of them developed countries that can afford subsidizing the expensive operations of sending large boats into remote corners of the oceans.

"Economy and ecology do not have to be locked into an irreconcilable struggle," the Prince said.

Prince Charles, along with the Environmental Defense Fund and a fisheries network 50in10, is now calling for investors to transform the industry into a more sustainable model -- and find that extra $50 billion.